Car-coupling



(No Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet 1.

P. A. FOX. GAR GOUPLING.

No. 424,285. Patented Mar. 25, 1890.

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2 t e e h S W e flu h S 2 Xm H PP M AC R FA G a d 0 M 0 W No. 424,285. Patented Mar. 25, 1890.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OF ICE.

FRANK A. FOX, or sAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.

CAR-COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 424,285, dated March 25, 1890.

Application filed October 8, 1889. Serial No. 326,832. (No model.)

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK A. FOX, a citizen of the United States, residing in the city and county of San Francisco, and State of California, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Car-Couplers; and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description of said invention, such as will enable others skilled in the art to which it most nearly appertains to make, use, and practice the same.

My present invention relates to certain new and useful improvement in car-couplers; and it consists of the parts and details of con-' struction, as will be hereinafter more fully shown in the drawings and described and pointed out in the specification.

The invention has particular relation to an improvement upon the coupler shown and described by me in my application filed in the United States Patent Office on the th day of July, 1889, Serial No. 318,667, and more particularly to the improved mechanism and arrangement of parts for connecting and disconnecting the couplers or interlocking parts of that class of freight-car couplers in which a hinged knuckle-joint on one of the heads engage with a similar knuckle-joint on the other head, so as to cause the tail -pieces thereof to be thrown into locking position.

The object of my invention is to so construct the tail-piece of the knuckle-joint as to provide an automatic self-locker independent of the knuckle-joint bolt, so that in case of damage ensuing to the latter by reason of breakage thereto the coupler-heads will still be retained in the interlocked position.

The invention further consists in providing means whereby the drawing strain of the coupler-heads will be evenly distributed be tween the knuckle-joint bolt, locking=pin, angular tail piece of the knuckle-joint, and the inner face of the coupler head, so as to lessen the liability of breakage to any one particular member; and the invention further consists in the peculiar construction of the locking pin, whereby a gravity self-interlock with the grooved end of the tail-piece of the swinging knuckle-joint is provided.

Referring to the drawings forming a part of this application, and in which similar letters of reference are used to denote corresponding parts throughout the entire specification and several views of the drawings, Figure I is a plan view, partly in section, showing the coupler-heads in an interlocked position; Fig. 2, a view in elevation of one of the couplerheads; Fig. 3, a detail view of the gravity locking-pin; Fig. 4, a detail view of the swinging knuckle-joint and end tail-piece; Fig. 5, a modified view of the knuckle-joint and tail-piece; Fig. 6, a view in elevation of one of the knuckle-joints; Fig. 7, a modified view of the locking'pin, and Fig. 8 a top plan view of Fig. 7.

With the exception of the locking mechanism, the coupler-heads employed in connection with my present invention remain the same as those described in my former application hereinbefore referred to, and for particular description thereof reference is to. be had thereto.

Heretofore in couplers designed to interlock by means of the lateral throw of the tailpiece of the swinging knuckle-joint causing the same to come in contact with a gravity ]ocking-pin, great difficulty has been experienced by reason of the damage resulting from the breakage of the knuckle-joint bolt, which permits of the outfalling of the knuckle-joint and tailpiece from their locked position, thereby causing the cars to become detached or uncoupled. The object of my invention is to overcome this difficulty.

The letter A is used to indicate the two couplet-heads, which heads have secured thereto at their forward end the swinging knucklejoint 0 by means of the bolt B, and said knuckle-j oint is provided with the rearwardlyextending tail-piece D, said piece and joint being made integral. The rear end of the tailpiece is provided with the T-shaped groove E. If so desired, however, this groove may extend entirely through the thickness of said piece; but by preference I prefer to run it only partially through. For purpose hereinafter explained I make the inner face of said tailpiece slightlycurved or beveled, as clearly shown at e, and said piece is provided with the projecting portion or shoulder F, which shoulder is adapted to fit into the recess G, formed in the inner face of the wall A of the coupler-head.

The coupler or locking-pin is represented 5, rectangular shape.

30 tained may be accomplished.

' 45 their coupled position.

by the letter H, which is made for about onehalf its length T-shaped, as shown in Fig. '3, and from thence it terminates in the reduced portion 71 which may be of either wedge or The point of reduction is made beveled, inclined, or curved, as shown at g. If so desired, the reduced portion of said pin may be made round instead of wedge shape. Said pin fits into the T-shaped opening I, formed in the top of the coupler-wall I 5 the reduced portion of the locking-pin.

I do not wish to be understood as confining myself to any particular shaped locking-pin or groove in the end of the tail-piece of the knuckle-joint, for I am aware that various forms maybe employed for this purpose with equally good results. For instance, as clearly shown in Figs. 5 and 6 of the drawings, the groove tail-piece may be provided with the wedge-shaped groove J and the pin J Fig.

2 5 7, may be constructed in the form of a wedge.

Provided the locking portion or that part of the locking-pin adapted to engage with the end groove of the tail-piece corresponds therewith-in shape, the result sought to be ob- WVherever a departure is made from the form herein shown and described corresponding change must be made in the opening in the couplerhead. I prefer, however, the form of lock- 3 5 ing-pin illustrated in Fig. 3.

effect the withdrawal of the knuckle-joint when once looked without raising or releasing the pin from within its seat. Thus, although the swinging knuckle-joint bolt 13 may become broken, the heads will still retain When the couplerheads are in a locked position, the shoulder F of the tail-piece rests or fits within the recess G of the inner face of the wall A of the coupler-head. If so desired, however, this last-mentioned feature of my device may be omitted without affecting the working of the coupler.

The operation of my device is as follows: As the coupler-heads are brought together 5 the knuckle-joints are moved inward, throwing thereby the tail-pieces to the rear laterally until the beveled or curved end portion comes in contact with the curved or beveled reduced portion of the locking-pin, which of necessity causes the raising thereof to a height 5 5 As above stated, with the interlocking of the pin the shoulderof the tail-piece is thrown within, the inner recessformed in the wall of the coupler-head, so that the severe strain what I claim as new, and desire to secure pro-' tection in by Letters Patent of the United States, is

1. In a car-coupler, the combination, with the head thereof, of the swinging knuckle-j oint provided with a rearwardly-extending tailpiece having a partially-closed end recess formed therein, and of the coupling-pin adapted upon the lateral thrust of the tail-piece automatically to move into locked engagement with the recessed portion of the tailpiece, so as to maintain the same in a locked position independent of the knuckle-joint bolt, substantially as set forth and described.

2. A car-coupler having a swinging knucklejoint provided with a rearwardly-extending tail-piece having a partially-closed recess formed therein and a coupling-pin adapted. automatically to drop into a locked engagement with said recess of the tail-piece upon the lateral thrust of the said joint, substantially as described.

3. A car-coupler having a swinging knucklejoint provided with a rearwardly-extending tail-piece having a recess formed with side walls and a locking-pin adapted to engage with the said recess upon the lateral thrust of the said joint, substantially as set forth and described.

4. A car-coupler havin g a swinging knuckle- -joint provided with a rearwardly-extending tail-piece having a recess formed with side walls, said recess being of less diameter at its rear than front end, and a locking-pin adapted to engage with the said part-iallymlosed recess upon the lateral thrust of said joint, substantially as set forth and described.

5. In a car-coupler, the combination, with the coupler-head having a depression formed upon the inner walls thereof, of a knucklejoint provided with a rearwardly-extending tail-piece having a projecting shoulder which fits into the said depression and engages therewith, a partially-closed recess formed in the end of said tail-piece, and a coupling-pin adapted to be moved into locked engagement with said end recess upon the lateral thrust of the knuckle joint, substantially as set forth and described.

6. A car-coupler having a swinging knucklejoint and a rearwardly-exten ding tail-piece provided with a T-shapcd groove adapted upon the lateral movement thereof to come into contact and interlock with a sliding coupling-pin, substantially as herein described.

7. In a car-coupler, the combination, with the heads thereof, of the swinging knucklejoint having a rearwardly-extending -tailknuckle-joint having a rearwardly-extending tail-piece provided with the inner curved or beveled end Wall and a groove formed in the end of said tail-piece of greater diameter at its rear than front, and the locking-pin working in-the opening of the coupler-head, conforming for a portion of its length to the form of the end groove, having the curved or beveled terminus similar to the curved or beveled end of the tail-piece, said 'pin being adapted to be raised upon the lateral throw of the swinging knuckle-joint and to fall by gravity into the grooved seat of the tail-piece, so as to automatically interlock therewith, substantially as and for the purpose herein shown and described.

9. The combination, with the coupler-head of a car-coupler, of the locking-pin working in an opening formed in the coupler-head, said pin having the enlarged upper portion terminating in a curved bottom of varying thickness and reduced lower portion, and the hinged knuckle-joint having the rearwardly-extending tail-piece provided with an end groove adapted to interlock with said locking-pin upon the lateral movement thereof, substantially as set forth and described.

10, In a car-coupling, the coinbinatiomwith a draw-head having one of its walls provided with a T-shaped slot and its opposite wall provided with a rectangular or square slot, of a swinging knuckle-joint having a rearwardlyextending tail-piece, said tail --piece provided with a beveled end and an end T- shaped slot having an inclined bottom, and a coupling=pin having one end thereof enlarged and T-shaped, said T-shaped portion registering with the T-shaped slot of thewall of the draw-head, the end of the shoulder Witnesses:

p N. A. AOKER,

ARTHUR RODGERS. 

